Systems and methods using a cloud proxy for mobile device management and policy

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods include, in a cloud node, receiving Mobile Device Management (MDM) data from a central authority, wherein the MDM data includes policy metadata specifying MDM functions for mobile devices associated with users of an enterprise; communicating to an application on a mobile device associated with a user, via a tunnel, wherein the application is configured for service discovery and connectivity; and providing the MDM data to the mobile device associated with the user via the tunnel.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present patent application/patent is a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/900,951, filed Feb. 21, 2018, andentitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CLOUD BASED UNIFIED SERVICE DISCOVERYAND SECURE AVAILABILITY,” which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/153,108 filed May 12, 2016 (now U.S. Pat. No.9,935,955, issued on Apr. 3, 2018), and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODSFOR CLOUD BASED UNIFIED SERVICE DISCOVERY AND SECURE AVAILABILITY,”which claims the benefit of priority of Indian Patent Application No.201611010521, filed on Mar. 28, 2016, and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODSFOR CLOUD BASED UNIFIED SERVICE DISCOVERY AND SECURE AVAILABILITY,” thecontents of each are incorporated in full by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure generally relates to computer networking systemsand methods. More particularly, the present disclosure relates tosystems and methods using a cloud proxy for mobile device management andpolicy.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

There is a staggering growth of endpoint mobile devices in enterprises.With this influx, enterprise Information Technology (IT) administratorscan no longer ignore these mobile devices as simply outside their scopeof responsibility. Correspondingly, there has been an unprecedentedgrowth in the cloud services that are made available by an enterprise toits employees. Traditionally, enterprises have deployed one secureapplication for each service for each platform, but this has eventuallyfailed to scale with the growth of mobility in IT. There are myriadnumbers of cloud-based services that are being accessed from unmanagedendpoint mobile devices across diverse operating systems, uncontrollednetwork topologies and vaguely understood mobile geographies. Typically,enterprises have deployed applications for a specific service,applications to access corporate resources that themselves vary fordifferent network conditions, and applications to secure the endpointsitself.

Conventionally, for each application, the enterprise user has to performnumerous steps. For example, the end user has to contact an enterpriseadministrator (i.e., in person or web portal) to configure the mobiledevice to use the end-point application for a corresponding service. Theend user has to enroll in each application to access a service, and theenterprise administrator has to undertake to the complex tasks oftracking, deploying and managing individual apps on each endpoint mobiledevice. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to eliminate the multipleapplications for various enterprise functions, to enable a user toconnect to multiple cloud services.

Normally, in order to securely access multiple network resourcesconcurrently, the end user has to connect to multiple applications, suchas a corporate Virtual Private Network (VPN) for accessing enterprise'sinternal resources (intranet) and a private VPN or a network filteringapplication for accessing internet resources. This is not onlyperplexing for the end user but also creates several compatibilityissues between different applications which compete for network accessat different layers of networking. For instance, the service of a VPNapplication to securely connect to an enterprise network is affected bya web security firewall application running on the device which monitorsand forbids any network interface changes. The situation is furtherexacerbated by the fact that the user needs to reconfigure eachapplication depending upon the changes in network conditions such asmoving from one subnet to another and that there is no indication to theuser to perform such a change. All such service transitions must then beperformed manually by the user with every network change. This isanalogous to the situation where a user must statically configureInternet Protocol (IP) address configuration on a network interface forevery network change. This problem was overcome by Dynamic HostConfiguration Protocol (DHCP) that discovers configuration for theinterface such as IP Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateways and DomainName System (DNS) servers. With the advent of mobility and explosion inthe number of cloud services and mobile applications, there is a similarneed for unified service discovery and secure availability.

Additionally, Mobile Device Management (MDM) has been a challenging taskfor IT. As is known in the art, MDM is an industry term for theadministration of mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers,and laptops. MDM is typically a deployment of a combination of on-deviceapplications and configurations, corporate policies and certificates,for the purpose of simplifying and enhancing the IT management of enduser devices. In modern corporate IT environments, the sheer number anddiversity of managed devices (and user behavior) has motivated MDMsolutions that allow the management of devices and users in a consistentand scalable way. The overall role of MDM is to increase devicesupportability, security, and corporate functionality while maintainingsome user flexibility. MDM primarily deals with corporate datasegregation, securing emails, securing corporate documents on devices,enforcing corporate policies, integrating and managing mobile devicesincluding laptops and handhelds of various categories.

Some of the core functions of MDM include:

Ensuring that diverse user equipment is configured to a consistentstandard/supported set of applications, functions, or corporatepolicies;

Updating equipment, applications, functions, or policies in a scalablemanner;

Ensuring that users use applications in a consistent and supportablemanner;

Ensuring that equipment performs consistently;

Monitoring and tracking equipment (e.g., location, status, ownership,activity); and

Being able to efficiently diagnose and troubleshoot equipment remotely

As mobile devices proliferate, it becomes difficult to track and enforceIT policies on mobile devices. Traditionally, IT has to install aseparate client application on a mobile device, which calls home to getthe latest IT policies and then enforce it on device. The clientapplication requires to check frequently with a policy server for anyupdate. Or it must subscribe to push notification services to getnotified when to check for new updates. Both these approaches areresource intensive and requires a lot of scalability.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods using a cloudproxy for mobile device management and policy. In particular, thepresent disclosure utilizes an application executed on a user device,for cloud service discovery and connectivity, to also provide MobileDevice Management (MDM) functionality. The application is required on auser device to access enterprise, cloud-based resources. Thus, thisapproach removes the requirement for enterprise IT to install a separateclient to manage IT policies. This approach saves memory and preciousdevice battery. The solution is highly scalable and efficient, as itdoes not require the client application to call home or subscribe to anynotification service.

In an embodiment, a method in a cloud node includes receiving MobileDevice Management (MDM) data from a central authority, wherein the MDMdata includes policy metadata specifying MDM functions for mobiledevices associated with users of an enterprise; communicating to anapplication on a mobile device associated with a user, via a tunnel,wherein the application is configured for service discovery andconnectivity; and providing the MDM data to the mobile device associatedwith the user via the tunnel. In another embodiment, a cloud nodeincludes a processor and memory storing instructions that, whenexecuted, cause the processor to receive Mobile Device Management (MDM)data from a central authority, wherein the MDM data includes policymetadata specifying MDM functions for mobile devices associated withusers of an enterprise; communicate to an application on a mobile deviceassociated with a user, via a tunnel, wherein the application isconfigured for service discovery and connectivity; and provide the MDMdata to the mobile device associated with the user via the tunnel.

In an embodiment, a method implemented by an application executed on auser device for service discovery and connectivity includes discoveringone or more cloud services for a user associated with the user device;creating and operating an interface on the user device; and interceptingtraffic at the interface from one or more client applications on theuser device and splitting the traffic based on configuration to the oneor more cloud services.

In another embodiment, a user device configured to execute anapplication for service discovery and connectivity includes a networkinterface, a data store, and a processor communicatively coupled to oneanother; and memory storing computer executable instructions, and inresponse to execution by the processor, the computer-executableinstructions cause the processor to discover one or more cloud servicesfor a user associated with the mobile device; create and operate aninterface on the mobile device connected to the network interface; andintercept traffic at the interface from one or more client applicationson the mobile device and split the traffic based on configuration to theone or more cloud services.

In a further embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable mediumstoring computer executable instructions, and in response to executionby the processor, the computer-executable instructions cause a processorto perform the steps of discovering one or more cloud services for auser associated with the user device; creating and operating aninterface on the user device; and intercepting traffic at the interfacefrom one or more client applications on the user device and splittingthe traffic based on configuration to the one or more cloud services.

In an embodiment, a method, implemented by a unified agent applicationexecuted on a mobile device, for unified service discovery and secureavailability includes authenticating a user into a plurality of cloudservices including a proxy service and a Virtual Private Network (VPN)service, wherein the proxy service is utilized for Internet traffic andthe VPN service is for Intranet traffic; creating and operating a linklocal network at the mobile device with a virtual network interface andmultiple listening sockets; and intercepting traffic at the virtualnetwork interface from one or more client applications on the mobiledevice and splitting the traffic between the proxy service, the VPNservice, and the Internet based on a type of the traffic, a destination,and the one or more client applications.

In another embodiment, a mobile device configured to provide unifiedservice discovery and secure availability through a unified agentapplication includes a network interface, a data store, and a processorcommunicatively coupled to one another; and memory storing computerexecutable instructions, and in response to execution by the processor,the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to authenticatea user into a plurality of cloud services including a proxy service anda Virtual Private Network (VPN) service, wherein the proxy service isutilized for Internet traffic and the VPN service is for Intranettraffic; create and operate a link local network at the mobile devicewith a virtual network interface and multiple listening sockets; andintercept traffic at the virtual network interface from one or moreclient applications on the mobile device and split the traffic betweenthe proxy service, the VPN service, and the Internet based on a type ofthe traffic, a destination, and the one or more client applications.

In a further embodiment, a cloud system includes a plurality of cloudnodes, where each of the plurality of cloud nodes is configured to, fora user with a user device executing a unified agent application,authenticate the user into a plurality of cloud services including aproxy service and a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service, wherein theproxy service is utilized for Internet traffic and the VPN service isfor Intranet traffic; receive traffic from the user device, wherein theunified agent application is configured to create and operate a linklocal network at the user device with a virtual network interface andmultiple listening sockets; and direct the traffic to the Internet or anIntranet based on which tunnel the traffic is received on, wherein theunified agent application is configured to intercept traffic at thevirtual network interface from one or more client applications on theuser device and split the traffic between tunnels for the proxy service,the VPN service, and the Internet based on a type of the traffic, adestination, and the one or more client applications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated and described herein withreference to the various drawings, in which like reference numbers areused to denote like system components/method steps, as appropriate, andin which:

FIG. 1 is a network diagram of a distributed security system;

FIG. 2 is a network diagram of the distributed security system of FIG. 1illustrating various components in more detail;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a server which may be used in thedistributed security system of FIG. 1 or with any other cloud-basedsystem;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a mobile device which may be used in thesystem of FIG. 1 or with any other cloud-based system;

FIG. 5 is a network diagram of a generalized cloud-based system;

FIG. 6 is a network diagram of a network with a distributed securitycloud providing DNS augmented security;

FIG. 7 is a network diagram of a unified agent application andassociated connectivity and functionality in a network;

FIG. 8 is a network diagram of the workflow of the unified agentapplication in the network of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an event sequence associated with theunified agent application in the network of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a logical diagram of functional components of the unifiedagent application;

FIG. 11 is a screenshot of a login screen of the unified agentapplication;

FIG. 12 is a screenshot of an admin dashboard for the unified agentapplication;

FIG. 13 is a screenshot of a network evaluation configuration for theunified agent application;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a proxy authentication method to the securitycloud;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a VPN authentication method to the securitycloud;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a device enrollment method for the clientdevice and the unified agent application;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a traffic interception method implementedthrough the unified agent application;

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram of traffic interception and splitting usingthe unified agent application;

FIG. 19 is a flow diagram of example functionality of clientapplications, the TUN interface, sockets, and the VPN server for theinterception and splitting using the unified agent application;

FIG. 20 is a flow diagram of tunnel forwarding rules by the unifiedagent application; and

FIG. 21 is a flowchart of an MDM method implemented through the unifiedagent application and the distributed security system or the cloudsystem.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods using a cloudproxy for mobile device management and policy. In particular, thepresent disclosure utilizes an application executed on a user device,for cloud service discovery and connectivity, to also provide MobileDevice Management (MDM) functionality. The application is required on auser device to access enterprise, cloud-based resources. Thus, thisapproach removes the requirement for enterprise IT to install a separateclient to manage IT policies. This approach saves memory and preciousdevice battery. The solution is highly scalable and efficient, as itdoes not require the client application to call home or subscribe to anynotification service.

Also, in various embodiments, the present disclosure relates to systemsand methods for cloud-based unified service discovery and secureavailability. The systems and methods enable a user to connect tomultiple cloud services through the dynamic discovery of availableservices followed by authentication and access as exposed in thecorresponding service protocol. The systems and methods address theunmanageable growth of mobility and cloud-based services which have ledto a proliferation of individual applications for access to individualservices. The systems and method can be implemented through a mobileapplication (“app”) which overcomes the hassle of deploying and managingseveral applications across a gamut of mobile devices, operatingsystems, and mobile networks to gain secure access to the cloud-basedinternet or intranet resources. The mobile application can uniquelyperform a Dynamic evaluation of Network and Service Discovery, UnifiedEnrollment to all services, Application dependent service enablement,Service protocol learning, Service Availability through secure networktraffic forwarding tunnels, and the like.

Again, enterprises have a strong need to provide secure access to cloudservices to its end users. The growth of mobility and cloud in the ITenterprise has made it impossible for IT admins to deploy individualapplications for individual services. The mobile app associated with thesystems and methods overcomes these limitations through the dynamicdiscovery of available services to the end user, followed byauthentication and access to individual services. Further, the mobileapp insightfully learns the protocol for each service and establishes asecure tunnel to the service. In essence, the mobile app is one app thatan enterprise may use to provide secure connectivity to the Internet anddiversified internal corporate applications. At the time of userenrollment, the mobile app will discover all services provided by theenterprise cloud and will enroll the user to all of those services. Itwill then set up secure tunnels for each application depending uponwhether the application is internet bound or if it is internal to thecorporate network (intranet).

The mobile app will also discover all applications provided within theenterprise cloud along with a Global Virtual Private Network (GVPN)service and show the available services to end user. EndpointApplications today provide one service for a specific network function(such as Virtual Private Network (VPN) to a corporate network, websecurity, antivirus to access the Internet). The mobile app can be usedto enable all these services with single enrollment. The mobile app willprovide services to darknet applications along with securing theInternet traffic. The mobile app can set up a local network on themobile device.

Example High-Level System Architecture—Cloud-Based Security System

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a distributed security system 100. Thesystem 100 may, for example, be implemented as an overlay network in awide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, a local area network(LAN), or the like. The system 100 includes processing nodes (PN) 110,that proactively detect and preclude the distribution of securitythreats, e.g., malware, spyware, viruses, email spam, Data LeakagePrevention (DLP), content filtering, etc., and other undesirable contentsent from or requested by an external system. The processing nodes 110can also log activity and enforce policies, including logging changes tothe various components and settings in the system 100. Example externalsystems may include an enterprise or external system 200, a computerdevice 220, and a mobile device 230, or other network and computingsystems communicatively coupled to the system 100. In an embodiment,each of the processing nodes 110 may include a decision system, e.g.,data inspection engines that operate on a content item, e.g., a webpage, a file, an email message, or some other data or data communicationthat is sent from or requested by one of the external systems. In anembodiment, all data destined for or received from the Internet isprocessed through one of the processing nodes 110. In anotherembodiment, specific data specified by each external system, e.g., onlyemail, only executable files, etc., is process through one of theprocessing node 110.

Each of the processing nodes 110 may generate a decision vector D=[d1,d2, . . . , dn] for a content item of one or more parts C=[c1, c2, . . ., cm]. Each decision vector may identify a threat classification, e.g.,clean, spyware, malware, undesirable content, innocuous, spam email,unknown, etc. For example, the output of each element of the decisionvector D may be based on the output of one or more data inspectionengines. In an embodiment, the threat classification may be reduced to asubset of categories, e.g., violating, non-violating, neutral, unknown.Based on the subset classification, the processing node 110 may allowdistribution of the content item, preclude distribution of the contentitem, allow distribution of the content item after a cleaning process,or perform threat detection on the content item. In an embodiment, theactions taken by one of the processing nodes 110 may be determinative onthe threat classification of the content item and on a security policyof the external system to which the content item is being sent from orfrom which the content item is being requested by. A content item isviolating if, for any part C=[c1, c2, . . . , cm] of the content item,at any of the processing nodes 110, any one of the data inspectionengines generates an output that results in a classification of“violating.”

Each of the processing nodes 110 may be implemented by one or more ofcomputer and communications devices, e.g., server computers, gateways,switches, etc., such as the server 300 described in FIG. 3. In anembodiment, the processing nodes 110 may serve as an access layer 150.The access layer 150 may, for example, provide external system access tothe security system 100. In an embodiment, each of the processing nodes110 may include Internet gateways and one or more servers, and theprocessing nodes 110 may be distributed through a geographic region,e.g., throughout a country, region, campus, etc. According to a serviceagreement between a provider of the system 100 and an owner of anexternal system, the system 100 may thus provide security protection tothe external system at any location throughout the geographic region.

Data communications may be monitored by the system 100 in a variety ofways, depending on the size and data requirements of the externalsystem. For example, an enterprise 200 may have multiple routers,switches, etc. that are used to communicate over the Internet, and therouters, switches, etc. may be configured to establish communicationsthrough the nearest (in traffic communication time, for example)processing node 110. A mobile device 230 may be configured tocommunicate to the nearest processing node 110 through any availablewireless access device, such as an access point, or a cellular gateway.A single computer device 220, such as a consumer's personal computer,may have its browser and email program configured to access the nearestprocessing node 110, which, in turn, serves as a proxy for the computerdevice 220. Alternatively, an Internet provider may have all of itscustomer traffic processed through the processing nodes 110.

In an embodiment, the processing nodes 110 may communicate with one ormore authority nodes (AN) 120, which can also be referred to as acentral authority (CA) node. The authority nodes 120 may store policydata for each external system and may distribute the policy data to eachof the processing nodes 110. The policy may, for example, definesecurity policies for a protected system, e.g., security policies forthe enterprise 200. Example policy data may define access privileges forusers, websites and/or content that is disallowed, restricted domains,etc. The authority nodes 120 may distribute the policy data to theprocessing nodes 110. In an embodiment, the authority nodes 120 may alsodistribute threat data that includes the classifications of contentitems according to threat classifications, e.g., a list of knownviruses, a list of known malware sites, spam email domains, a list ofknown phishing sites, etc. The distribution of threat data between theprocessing nodes 110 and the authority nodes 120 may be implemented bypush and pull distribution schemes described in more detail below. In anembodiment, each of the authority nodes 120 may be implemented by one ormore computer and communication devices, e.g., server computers,gateways, switches, etc., such as the server 300 described in FIG. 3. Insome embodiments, the authority nodes 120 may serve as an applicationlayer 170. The application layer 170 may, for example, manage andprovide policy data, threat data, and data inspection engines anddictionaries for the processing nodes 110.

Other application layer functions may also be provided in theapplication layer 170, such as a user interface (UI) front-end 130. Theuser interface front-end 130 may provide a user interface through whichusers of the external systems may provide and define security policies,e.g., whether email traffic is to be monitored, whether certain websitesare to be precluded, etc. Another application capability that may beprovided through the user interface front-end 130 is security analysisand log reporting. The underlying data on which the security analysisand log reporting functions operate are stored in logging nodes (LN)140, which serve as a data logging layer 160. Each of the logging nodes140 may store data related to security operations and network trafficprocessed by the processing nodes 110 for each external system. In anembodiment, the logging node 140 data may be anonymized so that dataidentifying an enterprise is removed or obfuscated. For example,identifying data may be removed to provide an overall system summary ofsecurity processing for all enterprises and users without revealing theidentity of any one account. Alternatively, identifying data may beobfuscated, e.g., provide a random account number each time it isaccessed, so that an overall system summary of security processing forall enterprises and users may be broken out by accounts withoutrevealing the identity of any one account. In another embodiment, theidentifying data and/or logging node 140 data may be further encrypted,e.g., so that only the enterprise (or user if a single user account) mayhave access to the logging node 140 data for its account. Otherprocesses of anonymizing, obfuscating, or securing logging node 140 datamay also be used. Note, as described herein, the systems and methods fortracking and auditing changes in a multi-tenant cloud system can beimplemented in the data logging layer 160, for example.

In an embodiment, an access agent 180 may be included in the externalsystems. For example, the access agent 180 is deployed in the enterprise200. The access agent 180 may, for example, facilitate securityprocessing by providing a hash index of files on a client device to oneof the processing nodes 110, or may facilitate authentication functionswith one of the processing nodes 110, e.g., by assigning tokens forpasswords and sending only the tokens to a processing node so thattransmission of passwords beyond the network edge of the enterprise isminimized. Other functions and processes may also be facilitated by theaccess agent 180. In an embodiment, the processing node 110 may act as aforward proxy that receives user requests to external servers addresseddirectly to the processing node 110. In another embodiment, theprocessing node 110 may access user requests that are passed through theprocessing node 110 in a transparent mode. A protected system, e.g.,enterprise 200, may, for example, choose one or both of these modes. Forexample, a browser may be configured either manually or through theaccess agent 180 to access the processing node 110 in a forward proxymode. In the forward proxy mode, all accesses are addressed to theprocessing node 110.

In an embodiment, an enterprise gateway may be configured so that userrequests are routed through the processing node 110 by establishing acommunication tunnel between enterprise gateway and the processing node110. For establishing the tunnel, existing protocols such as genericrouting encapsulation (GRE), layer two tunneling protocol (L2TP), orother Internet Protocol (IP) security protocols may be used. In anotherembodiment, the processing nodes 110 may be deployed at Internet serviceprovider (ISP) nodes. The ISP nodes may redirect subject traffic to theprocessing nodes 110 in a transparent proxy mode. Protected systems,such as the enterprise 200, may use a multiprotocol label switching(MPLS) class of service for indicating the subject traffic that is to beredirected. For example, at the within the enterprise, the access agent180 may be configured to perform MPLS labeling. In another transparentproxy mode embodiment, a protected system, such as the enterprise 200,may identify the processing node 110 as a next hop router forcommunication with the external servers.

Generally, the distributed security system 100 may generally refer to anexample cloud-based security system. Other cloud-based security systemsand generalized cloud-based systems are contemplated for the systems andmethods for tracking and auditing changes in a multi-tenant cloudsystem. Cloud computing systems and methods abstract away physicalservers, storage, networking, etc. and instead offer these as on-demandand elastic resources. The National Institute of Standards andTechnology (NIST) provides a concise and specific definition whichstates cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demandnetwork access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources(e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orservice provider interaction. Cloud computing differs from the classicclient-server model by providing applications from a server that areexecuted and managed by a client's web browser, with no installed clientversion of an application required. Centralization gives cloud serviceproviders complete control over the versions of the browser-basedapplications provided to clients, which removes the need for versionupgrades or license management on individual client computing devices.The phrase “software as a service” (SaaS) is sometimes used to describeapplication programs offered through cloud computing. A common shorthandfor a provided cloud computing service (or even an aggregation of allexisting cloud services) is “the cloud.” The distributed security system100 is illustrated herein as one example embodiment of a cloud-basedsystem, and those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thetracking and auditing systems and methods contemplate operation on anycloud-based system.

Example Detailed System Architecture and Operation

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of various components of the distributedsecurity system 100 in more detail. Although FIG. 2 illustrates only onerepresentative component processing node 110, authority node 120 andlogging node 140, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciatethere may be many of each of the component nodes 110, 120 and 140present in the system 100. A wide area network (WAN) 101, such as theInternet, or some other combination of wired and/or wireless networks,communicatively couples the processing node 110, the authority node 120,and the logging node 140 to one another. The external systems 200, 220and 230 likewise communicate over the WAN 101 with each other or otherdata providers and publishers. Some or all of the data communication ofeach of the external systems 200, 220 and 230 may be processed throughthe processing node 110.

FIG. 2 also shows the enterprise 200 in more detail. The enterprise 200may, for example, include a firewall (FW) 202 protecting an internalnetwork that may include one or more enterprise servers 216, alightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) server 212, and other dataor data stores 214. Another firewall 203 may protect an enterprisesubnet that can include user computers 206 and 208 (e.g., laptop anddesktop computers). The enterprise 200 may communicate with the WAN 101through one or more network devices, such as a router, gateway, switch,etc. The LDAP server 212 may store, for example, user login credentialsfor registered users of the enterprise 200 system. Such credentials mayinclude a user identifier, login passwords, and a login historyassociated with each user identifier. The other data stores 214 mayinclude sensitive information, such as bank records, medical records,trade secret information, or any other information warranting protectionby one or more security measures.

In an embodiment, a client access agent 180 a may be included on aclient computer 206. The client access agent 180 a may, for example,facilitate security processing by providing a hash index of files on theuser computer 206 to a processing node 110 for malware, virus detection,etc. Other security operations may also be facilitated by the accessagent 180 a. In another embodiment, a server access agent 180 mayfacilitate authentication functions with the processing node 110, e.g.,by assigning tokens for passwords and sending only the tokens to theprocessing node 110 so that transmission of passwords beyond the networkedge of the enterprise 200 is minimized. Other functions and processesmay also be facilitated by the server access agent 180 b. The computerdevice 220 and the mobile device 230 may also store informationwarranting security measures, such as personal bank records, medicalinformation, and login information, e.g., login information to thecomputers 206 of the enterprise 200, or to some other secured dataprovider server. The computer device 220 and the mobile device 230 canalso store information warranting security measures, such as personalbank records, medical information, and login information, e.g., logininformation to a server 216 of the enterprise 200, or to some othersecured data provider server.

Example Processing Node Architecture

In an embodiment, the processing nodes 110 are external to network edgesof the external systems 200, 220 and 230. Each of the processing nodes110 stores security policy data 113 received from the authority node 120and monitors content items requested by or sent from the externalsystems 200, 220 and 230. In an embodiment, each of the processing nodes110 may also store a detection process filter 112 and/or threat data 114to facilitate the decision of whether a content item should be processedfor threat detection. A processing node manager 118 may manage eachcontent item in accordance with the security policy data 113, and thedetection process filter 112 and/or threat data 114, if stored at theprocessing node 110, so that security policies for a plurality ofexternal systems in data communication with the processing node 110 areimplemented external to the network edges for each of the externalsystems 200, 220 and 230. For example, depending on the classificationresulting from the monitoring, the content item may be allowed,precluded, or threat detected. In general, content items that arealready classified as “clean” or not posing a threat can be allowed,while those classified as “violating” may be precluded. Those contentitems having an unknown status, e.g., content items that have not beenprocessed by the system 100, may be threat detected to classify thecontent item according to threat classifications.

The processing node 110 may include a state manager 116A. The statemanager 116A may be used to maintain the authentication and theauthorization states of users that submit requests to the processingnode 110. Maintenance of the states through the state manager 116A mayminimize the number of authentication and authorization transactionsthat are necessary to process a request. The processing node 110 mayalso include an epoch processor 116B. The epoch processor 116B may beused to analyze authentication data that originated at the authoritynode 120. The epoch processor 116B may use an epoch ID to validatefurther the authenticity of authentication data. The processing node 110may further include a source processor 116C. The source processor 116Cmay be used to verify the source of authorization and authenticationdata. The source processor 116C may identify improperly obtainedauthorization and authentication data, enhancing the security of thenetwork. Collectively, the state manager 116A, the epoch processor 116B,and the source processor 116C operate as data inspection engines.

Because the amount of data being processed by the processing nodes 110may be substantial, the detection processing filter 112 may be used asthe first stage of an information lookup procedure. For example, thedetection processing filter 112 may be used as a front-end to a lookingof the threat data 114. Content items may be mapped to index values ofthe detection processing filter 112 by a hash function that operates onan information key derived from the information item. The informationkey is hashed to generate an index value (i.e., a bit position). A valueof zero in a bit position in the guard table can indicate, for example,the absence of information, while a one in that bit position canindicate the presence of information. Alternatively, a one could be usedto represent absence, and a zero to represent presence. Each contentitem may have an information key that is hashed. For example, theprocessing node manager 118 may identify the Uniform Resource Locator(URL) address of URL requests as the information key and hash the URLaddress; or may identify the file name and the file size of anexecutable file information key and hash the file name and file size ofthe executable file. Hashing an information key to generate an index andchecking a bit value at the index in the detection processing filter 112generally requires less processing time than actually searching threatdata 114. The use of the detection processing filter 112 may improve thefailure query (i.e., responding to a request for absent information)performance of database queries and/or any general information queries.Because data structures are generally optimized to access informationthat is present in the structures, failure query performance has agreater effect on the time required to process information searches forvery rarely occurring items, e.g., the presence of file information in avirus scan log or a cache where many or most of the files transferred ina network have not been scanned or cached. Using the detectionprocessing filter 112, however, the worst case additional cost is onlyon the order of one, and thus its use for most failure queries saves onthe order of m log m, where m is the number of information recordspresent in the threat data 114.

The detection processing filter 112 thus improves the performance ofqueries where the answer to a request for information is usuallypositive. Such instances may include, for example, whether a given filehas been virus scanned, whether content at a given URL has been scannedfor inappropriate (e.g., pornographic) content, whether a givenfingerprint matches any of a set of stored documents, and whether achecksum corresponds to any of a set of stored documents. Thus, if thedetection processing filter 112 indicates that the content item has notbeen processed, then a worst case null lookup operation into the threatdata 114 is avoided, and a threat detection can be implementedimmediately. The detection processing filter 112 thus complements thethreat data 114 that capture positive information. In an embodiment, thedetection processing filter 112 may be a Bloom filter implemented by asingle hash function. The Bloom filter may be sparse table, i.e., thetables include many zeros and few ones, and the hash function is chosento minimize or eliminate false negatives which are, for example,instances where an information key is hashed to a bit position, and thatbit position indicates that the requested information is absent when itis actually present.

Example Authority Node Architecture

In general, the authority node 120 includes a data store that storesmaster security policy data 123 for each of the external systems 200,220 and 230. An authority node manager 128 may be used to manage themaster security policy data 123, e.g., receive input from users of eachof the external systems defining different security policies, and maydistribute the master security policy data 123 to each of the processingnodes 110. The processing nodes 110 then store a local copy of thesecurity policy data 113. The authority node 120 may also store a masterdetection process filter 122. The detection processing filter 122 mayinclude data indicating whether content items have been processed by oneor more of the data inspection engines 116 in any of the processingnodes 110. The authority node manager 128 may be used to manage themaster detection processing filter 122, e.g., receive updates from aprocessing node 110 when the processing node 110 has processed a contentitem and update the master detection processing filter 122. For example,the master detection processing filter 122 may be distributed to theprocessing nodes 110, which then store a local copy of the detectionprocessing filter 112.

In an embodiment, the authority node 120 may include an epoch manager126. The epoch manager 126 may be used to generate authentication dataassociated with an epoch ID. The epoch ID of the authentication data isa verifiable attribute of the authentication data that can be used toidentify fraudulently created authentication data. In an embodiment, thedetection processing filter 122 may be a guard table. The processingnode 110 may, for example, use the information in the local detectionprocessing filter 112 to quickly determine the presence and/or absenceof information, e.g., whether a particular URL has been checked formalware; whether a particular executable has been virus scanned, etc.The authority node 120 may also store master threat data 124. The masterthreat data 124 may classify content items by threat classifications,e.g., a list of known viruses, a list of known malware sites, spam emaildomains, list of known or detected phishing sites, etc. The authoritynode manager 128 may be used to manage the master threat data 124, e.g.,receive updates from the processing nodes 110 when one of the processingnodes 110 has processed a content item and update the master threat data124 with any pertinent results. In some implementations, the masterthreat data 124 may be distributed to the processing nodes 110, whichthen store a local copy of the threat data 114. In another embodiment,the authority node 120 may also monitor the health of each of theprocessing nodes 110, e.g., the resource availability in each of theprocessing nodes 110, detection of link failures, etc. Based on theobserved health of each of the processing nodes 110, the authority node120 may redirect traffic among the processing nodes 110 and/or balancetraffic among the processing nodes 110. Other remedial actions andprocesses may also be facilitated by the authority node 120.

Example Processing Node and Authority Node Communications

The processing node 110 and the authority node 120 may be configuredaccording to one or more push and pull processes to manage content itemsaccording to security policy data 113 and/or 123, detection processfilters 112 and/or 122, and the threat data 114 and/or 124. In a threatdata push implementation, each of the processing nodes 110 stores policydata 113 and threat data 114. The processing node manager 118 determineswhether a content item requested by or transmitted from an externalsystem is classified by the threat data 114. If the content item isdetermined to be classified by the threat data 114, then the processingnode manager 118 may manage the content item according to the securityclassification of the content item and the security policy of theexternal system. If, however, the content item is determined not to beclassified by the threat data 114, then the processing node manager 118may cause one or more of the data inspection engines 117 to perform thethreat detection processes to classify the content item according to athreat classification. Once the content item is classified, theprocessing node manager 118 generates a threat data update that includesdata indicating the threat classification for the content item from thethreat detection process and transmits the threat data update to anauthority node 120.

The authority node manager 128, in response to receiving the threat dataupdate, updates the master threat data 124 stored in the authority nodedata store according to the threat data update received from theprocessing node 110. In an embodiment, the authority node manager 128may automatically transmit the updated threat data to the otherprocessing nodes 110. Accordingly, threat data for new threats as thenew threats are encountered are automatically distributed to eachprocessing node 110. Upon receiving the new threat data from theauthority node 120, each of processing node managers 118 may store theupdated threat data in the locally stored threat data 114.

In a threat data pull and push implementation, each of the processingnodes 110 stores policy data 113 and threat data 114. The processingnode manager 118 determines whether a content item requested by ortransmitted from an external system is classified by the threat data114. If the content item is determined to be classified by the threatdata 114, then the processing node manager 118 may manage the contentitem according to the security classification of the content item andthe security policy of the external system. If, however, the contentitem is determined not to be classified by the threat data, then theprocessing node manager 118 may request responsive threat data for thecontent item from the authority node 120. Because processing a contentitem may consume valuable resource and time, in some implementations theprocessing node 110 may first check with the authority node 120 forthreat data 114 before committing such processing resources.

The authority node manager 128 may receive the responsive threat datarequest from the processing node 110 and may determine if the responsivethreat data is stored in the authority node data store. If responsivethreat data is stored in the master threat data 124, then the authoritynode manager 128 provide a reply that includes the responsive threatdata to the processing node 110 so that the processing node manager 118may manage the content item in accordance with the security policy data113 and the classification of the content item. Conversely, if theauthority node manager 128 determines that responsive threat data is notstored in the master threat data 124, then the authority node manager128 may provide a reply that does not include the responsive threat datato the processing node 110. In response, the processing node manager 118can cause one or more of the data inspection engines 116 to perform thethreat detection processes to classify the content item according to athreat classification. Once the content item is classified, theprocessing node manager 118 generates a threat data update that includesdata indicating the threat classification for the content item from thethreat detection process and transmits the threat data update to anauthority node 120. The authority node manager 128 can then update themaster threat data 124. Thereafter, any future requests related toresponsive threat data for the content item from other processing nodes110 can be readily served with responsive threat data.

In a detection process filter and threat data push implementation, eachof the processing nodes 110 stores a detection process filter 112,policy data 113, and threat data 114. The processing node manager 118accesses the detection process filter 112 to determine whether thecontent item has been processed. If the processing node manager 118determines that the content item has been processed, it may determine ifthe content item is classified by the threat data 114. Because thedetection process filter 112 has the potential for a false positive, alookup in the threat data 114 may be implemented to ensure that a falsepositive has not occurred. The initial check of the detection processfilter 112, however, may eliminate many null queries to the threat data114, which, in turn, conserves system resources and increasesefficiency. If the content item is classified by the threat data 114,then the processing node manager 118 may manage the content item inaccordance with the security policy data 113 and the classification ofthe content item. Conversely, if the processing node manager 118determines that the content item is not classified by the threat data114, or if the processing node manager 118 initially determines throughthe detection process filter 112 that the content item is not classifiedby the threat data 114, then the processing node manager 118 may causeone or more of the data inspection engines 116 to perform the threatdetection processes to classify the content item according to a threatclassification. Once the content item is classified, the processing nodemanager 118 generates a threat data update that includes data indicatingthe threat classification for the content item from the threat detectionprocess and transmits the threat data update to one of the authoritynodes 120.

The authority node manager 128, in turn, may update the master threatdata 124 and the master detection process filter 122 stored in theauthority node data store according to the threat data update receivedfrom the processing node 110. In an embodiment, the authority nodemanager 128 may automatically transmit the updated threat data anddetection processing filter to other processing nodes 110. Accordingly,threat data and the detection processing filter for new threats as thenew threats are encountered and automatically distributed to eachprocessing node 110, and each processing node 110 may update its localcopy of the detection processing filter 112 and threat data 114.

In a detection process filter and threat data pull and pushimplementation, each of the processing nodes 110 stores a detectionprocess filter 112, policy data 113, and threat data 114. The processingnode manager 118 accesses the detection process filter 112 to determinewhether the content item has been processed. If the processing nodemanager 118 determines that the content item has been processed, it maydetermine if the content item is classified by the threat data 114.Because the detection process filter 112 has the potential for a falsepositive, a lookup in the threat data 114 can be implemented to ensurethat a false positive has not occurred. The initial check of thedetection process filter 112, however, may eliminate many null queriesto the threat data 114, which, in turn, conserves system resources andincreases efficiency. If the processing node manager 118 determines thatthe content item has not been processed, it may request responsivethreat data for the content item from the authority node 120. Becauseprocessing a content item may consume valuable resource and time, insome implementations the processing node 110 may first check with theauthority node 120 for threat data 114 before committing such processingresources.

The authority node manager 128 may receive the responsive threat datarequest from the processing node 110 and may determine if the responsivethreat data is stored in the authority node data 120 store. Ifresponsive threat data is stored in the master threat data 124, then theauthority node manager 128 provides a reply that includes the responsivethreat data to the processing node 110 so that the processing nodemanager 118 can manage the content item in accordance with the securitypolicy data 113 and the classification of the content item, and furtherupdate the local detection processing filter 112. Conversely, if theauthority node manager 128 determines that responsive threat data is notstored in the master threat data 124, then the authority node manager128 may provide a reply that does not include the responsive threat datato the processing node 110. In response, the processing node manager 118may cause one or more of the data inspection engines 116 to perform thethreat detection processes to classify the content item according to athreat classification. Once the content item is classified, theprocessing node manager 118 generates a threat data update that includesdata indicating the threat classification for the content item from thethreat detection process and transmits the threat data update to anauthority node 120. The authority node manager 128 may then update themaster threat data 124. Thereafter, any future requests for related toresponsive threat data for the content item from other processing nodes110 can be readily served with responsive threat data.

The various push and pull data exchange processes provided above areexample processes for which the threat data and/or detection processfilters may be updated in the system 100 of FIGS. 1 and 2. Other updateprocesses, however, are contemplated with the present invention. Thedata inspection engines 116, processing node manager 118, authority nodemanager 128, user interface manager 132, logging node manager 148, andauthority agent 180 may be realized by instructions that upon executioncause one or more processing devices to carry out the processes andfunctions described above. Such instructions can, for example, includeinterpreted instructions, such as script instructions, e.g., JavaScriptor ECMAScript instructions, or executable code, or other instructionsstored in a non-transitory computer readable medium. Other processingarchitectures can also be used, e.g., a combination of speciallydesigned hardware and software, for example.

Example Server Architecture

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a server 300 which may be used in thesystem 100, in other systems, or standalone. Any of the processing nodes110, the authority nodes 120, and the logging nodes 140 may be formedthrough one or more servers 300. Further, the computer device 220, themobile device 230, the servers 216, etc. may include the server 300 or asimilar structure. The server 300 may be a digital computer that, interms of hardware architecture, generally includes a processor 302,input/output (I/O) interfaces 304, a network interface 306, a data store308, and memory 310. It should be appreciated by those of ordinary skillin the art that FIG. 3 depicts the server 300 in an oversimplifiedmanner, and a practical embodiment may include additional components andsuitably configured processing logic to support known or conventionaloperating features that are not described in detail herein. Thecomponents (302, 304, 306, 308, and 310) are communicatively coupled viaa local interface 312. The local interface 312 may be, for example, butnot limited to, one or more buses or other wired or wirelessconnections, as is known in the art. The local interface 312 may haveadditional elements, which are omitted for simplicity, such ascontrollers, buffers (caches), drivers, repeaters, and receivers, amongmany others, to enable communications. Further, the local interface 312may include address, control, and/or data connections to enableappropriate communications among the aforementioned components.

The processor 302 is a hardware device for executing softwareinstructions. The processor 302 may be any custom made or commerciallyavailable processor, a central processing unit (CPU), an auxiliaryprocessor among several processors associated with the server 300, asemiconductor-based microprocessor (in the form of a microchip or chipset), or generally any device for executing software instructions. Whenthe server 300 is in operation, the processor 302 is configured toexecute software stored within the memory 310, to communicate data toand from the memory 310, and to generally control operations of theserver 300 pursuant to the software instructions. The I/O interfaces 304may be used to receive user input from and/or for providing systemoutput to one or more devices or components. User input may be providedvia, for example, a keyboard, touchpad, and/or a mouse. System outputmay be provided via a display device and a printer (not shown). I/Ointerfaces 304 may include, for example, a serial port, a parallel port,a small computer system interface (SCSI), a serial ATA (SATA), a fibrechannel, Infiniband, iSCSI, a PCI Express interface (PCI-x), an infrared(IR) interface, a radio frequency (RF) interface, and/or a universalserial bus (USB) interface.

The network interface 306 may be used to enable the server 300 tocommunicate over a network, such as the Internet, the WAN 101, theenterprise 200, and the like, etc. The network interface 306 mayinclude, for example, an Ethernet card or adapter (e.g., 10BaseT, FastEthernet, Gigabit Ethernet, 10 GbE) or a wireless local area network(WLAN) card or adapter (e.g., 802.11a/b/g/n). The network interface 306may include address, control, and/or data connections to enableappropriate communications on the network. A data store 308 may be usedto store data. The data store 308 may include any of volatile memoryelements (e.g., random access memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM,and the like)), nonvolatile memory elements (e.g., ROM, hard drive,tape, CDROM, and the like), and combinations thereof. Moreover, the datastore 308 may incorporate electronic, magnetic, optical, and/or othertypes of storage media. In one example, the data store 308 may belocated internal to the server 300 such as, for example, an internalhard drive connected to the local interface 312 in the server 300.Additionally, in another embodiment, the data store 308 may be locatedexternal to the server 300 such as, for example, an external hard driveconnected to the I/O interfaces 304 (e.g., SCSI or USB connection). In afurther embodiment, the data store 308 may be connected to the server300 through a network, such as, for example, a network attached fileserver.

The memory 310 may include any of volatile memory elements (e.g., randomaccess memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, etc.)), nonvolatilememory elements (e.g., ROM, hard drive, tape, CDROM, etc.), andcombinations thereof. Moreover, the memory 310 may incorporateelectronic, magnetic, optical, and/or other types of storage media. Notethat the memory 310 may have a distributed architecture, where variouscomponents are situated remotely from one another but can be accessed bythe processor 302. The software in memory 310 may include one or moresoftware programs, each of which includes an ordered listing ofexecutable instructions for implementing logical functions. The softwarein the memory 310 includes a suitable operating system (O/S) 314 and oneor more programs 316. The operating system 314 essentially controls theexecution of other computer programs, such as the one or more programs316, and provides scheduling, input-output control, file and datamanagement, memory management, and communication control and relatedservices. The one or more programs 316 may be configured to implementthe various processes, algorithms, methods, techniques, etc. describedherein.

Example Mobile Device Architecture

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a mobile device 400, which may be used inthe system 100 or the like. The mobile device 400 can be a digitaldevice that, in terms of hardware architecture, generally includes aprocessor 402, input/output (I/O) interfaces 404, a radio 406, a datastore 408, and memory 410. It should be appreciated by those of ordinaryskill in the art that FIG. 4 depicts the mobile device 400 in anoversimplified manner, and a practical embodiment may include additionalcomponents and suitably configured processing logic to support known orconventional operating features that are not described in detail herein.The components (402, 404, 406, 408, and 402) are communicatively coupledvia a local interface 412. The local interface 412 can be, for example,but not limited to, one or more buses or other wired or wirelessconnections, as is known in the art. The local interface 412 can haveadditional elements, which are omitted for simplicity, such ascontrollers, buffers (caches), drivers, repeaters, and receivers, amongmany others, to enable communications. Further, the local interface 412may include address, control, and/or data connections to enableappropriate communications among the aforementioned components.

The processor 402 is a hardware device for executing softwareinstructions. The processor 402 can be any custom made or commerciallyavailable processor, a central processing unit (CPU), an auxiliaryprocessor among several processors associated with the mobile device400, a semiconductor-based microprocessor (in the form of a microchip orchip set), or generally any device for executing software instructions.When the mobile device 400 is in operation, the processor 402 isconfigured to execute software stored within the memory 410, tocommunicate data to and from the memory 410, and to generally controloperations of the mobile device 400 pursuant to the softwareinstructions. In an embodiment, the processor 402 may include anoptimized mobile processor such as optimized for power consumption andmobile applications. The I/O interfaces 404 can be used to receive userinput from and/or for providing system output. User input can beprovided via, for example, a keypad, a touch screen, a scroll ball, ascroll bar, buttons, barcode scanner, and the like. System output can beprovided via a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD),touch screen, and the like. The I/O interfaces 404 can also include, forexample, a serial port, a parallel port, a small computer systeminterface (SCSI), an infrared (IR) interface, a radio frequency (RF)interface, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, and the like. The I/Ointerfaces 404 can include a graphical user interface (GUI) that enablesa user to interact with the mobile device 400. Additionally, the I/Ointerfaces 404 may further include an imaging device, i.e., camera,video camera, etc.

The radio 406 enables wireless communication to an external accessdevice or network. Any number of suitable wireless data communicationprotocols, techniques, or methodologies can be supported by the radio406, including, without limitation: RF; IrDA (infrared); Bluetooth;ZigBee (and other variants of the IEEE 802.15 protocol); IEEE 802.11(any variation); IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX or any other variation); DirectSequence Spread Spectrum; Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum; Long TermEvolution (LTE); cellular/wireless/cordless telecommunication protocols(e.g. 3G/4G, etc.); wireless home network communication protocols;paging network protocols; magnetic induction; satellite datacommunication protocols; wireless hospital or health care facilitynetwork protocols such as those operating in the WMTS bands; GPRS;proprietary wireless data communication protocols such as variants ofWireless USB; and any other protocols for wireless communication. Thedata store 408 may be used to store data. The data store 408 may includeany of volatile memory elements (e.g., random access memory (RAM, suchas DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, and the like)), nonvolatile memory elements (e.g.,ROM, hard drive, tape, CDROM, and the like), and combinations thereof.Moreover, the data store 408 may incorporate electronic, magnetic,optical, and/or other types of storage media.

The memory 410 may include any of volatile memory elements (e.g., randomaccess memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, etc.)), nonvolatilememory elements (e.g., ROM, hard drive, etc.), and combinations thereof.Moreover, the memory 410 may incorporate electronic, magnetic, optical,and/or other types of storage media. Note that the memory 410 may have adistributed architecture, where various components are situated remotelyfrom one another but can be accessed by the processor 402. The softwarein memory 410 can include one or more software programs, each of whichincludes an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementinglogical functions. In the example of FIG. 4, the software in the memory410 includes a suitable operating system (O/S) 414 and programs 416. Theoperating system 414 essentially controls the execution of othercomputer programs and provides scheduling, input-output control, fileand data management, memory management, and communication control andrelated services. The programs 416 may include various applications,add-ons, etc. configured to provide end user functionality with themobile device 400. For example, example programs 416 may include, butnot limited to, a web browser, social networking applications, streamingmedia applications, games, mapping and location applications, electronicmail applications, financial applications, and the like. In a typicalexample, the end user typically uses one or more of the programs 416along with a network such as the system 100.

Example General Cloud System

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a cloud system 500 is illustrated forimplementing the systems and methods described herein for tracking andauditing changes in a multi-tenant cloud system. The cloud system 500includes one or more cloud nodes (CN) 502 communicatively coupled to theInternet 504. The cloud nodes 502 may include the processing nodes 110,the server 300, or the like. That is, the cloud system 500 may includethe distributed security system 100 or another implementation of acloud0based system, such as a system providing different functionalityfrom security. In the cloud system 500, traffic from various locations(and various devices located therein) such as a regional office 510,headquarters 520, various employee's homes 530, mobile laptop 540, andmobile device 542 communicates to the cloud through the cloud nodes 502.That is; each of the locations 510, 520, 530, 540, 542 iscommunicatively coupled to the Internet 504 through the cloud nodes 502.For security, the cloud system 500 may be configured to perform variousfunctions such as spam filtering, uniform resource locator (URL)filtering, antivirus protection, bandwidth control, data lossprevention, zero-day vulnerability protection, web 2.0 features, and thelike. In an embodiment, the cloud system 500 and the distributedsecurity system 100 may be viewed as Security-as-a-Service through thecloud. In general, the cloud system 500 can be configured to perform anyfunction in a multi-tenant environment. For example, the cloud system500 can provide content, a collaboration between users, storage,application hosting, and the like.

In an embodiment, the cloud system 500 can utilize the systems andmethods for tracking and auditing changes in a multi-tenant cloudsystem. That is, the cloud system 500 can track and audit administratoractivity associated with the cloud system 500 in a segregated andoverlaid fashion from the application functions performed by the cloudsystem 500. This segregated and overlaid fashion decouples the trackingand auditing from application logic, maximizing resources and minimizingdevelopment complexity and runtime processing. The cloud system 500 (andthe system 100) can be offloaded from complex tracking and auditingfunctions so that it can provide its primary function. In the context ofa distributed security system, the tracking and auditing systems andmethods enable accountability, intrusion detection, problem diagnosis,and data reconstruction, all in an optimized fashion considering theexponential growth in cloud-based systems.

DNS Augmented Security

In an embodiment, the cloud system 500 and/or the distributed securitysystem 100 can be used to perform DNS surrogation. Specifically, DNSsurrogation can be a framework for distributed or cloud-basedsecurity/monitoring as is described herein. Endpoint security is nolonger effective as deployments move to the cloud with users accessingcontent from a plurality of devices in an anytime, anywhere connectedmanner. As such, cloud-based security is the most effective means toensure network protection where different devices are used to accessnetwork resources. Traffic inspection in the distributed security system100 and the cloud-based system 500 is performed in an in-line manner,i.e., the processing nodes 110 and the cloud nodes 502 are in the datapath of connecting users. Another approach can include a passiveapproach to the data path. DNS is one of the most fundamental IPprotocols. With DNS surrogation as a technique, it is proposed to useDNS for dynamic routing of traffic, per user authentication and policyenforcement, and the like.

In conjunction with the cloud system 500 and/or the distributed securitysystem 100, various techniques can be used for monitoring which aredescribed on a sliding scale between always inline to never inline.First, in an always inline manner, all user traffic is between inlineproxies such as the processing nodes 110 or the cloud nodes 502 withoutexception. Here, DNS can be used as a forwarding mechanism to the inlineproxies. Second, in a somewhat always inline manner, all user trafficexcept for certain business partners or third parties is between inlineproxies such as the processing nodes 110 or the cloud nodes 502. Third,in an inline manner for most traffic, high bandwidth applications can beconfigured to bypass the inline proxies such as the processing nodes 110or the cloud nodes 502. Example high bandwidth applications can includecontent streaming such as video (e.g., Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc.) oraudio (e.g., Pandora, etc.). Fourth, in a mixed manner, inlinemonitoring can be used for “interesting” traffic as determined bysecurity policy with other traffic being direct. Fifth, in an almostnever inline manner, simple domain-level URL filtering can be used todetermine what is monitored inline. Finally, sixth, in a never inlinemanner, DNS augmented security can be used.

FIG. 6 is a network diagram of a network 550 with a distributed securitycloud 552 providing DNS augmented security. The network 550 includes auser device 554 connecting to the distributed security cloud 552 via ananycast DNS server 556. The anycast DNS server 556 can be a server suchas the server 300 of FIG. 3. Also, the anycast DNS server 556 can be theprocessing node 110, the cloud node 502, etc. The distributed securitycloud 552 includes the anycast DNS server 556, policy data 558, and aninline proxy 560. The inline proxy 560 can include the processing node110, the cloud node 502, etc. In operation, the user device 554 isconfigured with a DNS entry of the anycast DNS server 556, and theanycast DNS server 556 can perform DNS surrogation as is describedherein. The distributed security cloud 552 utilizes the anycast DNSserver 556, the policy data 558, and the inline proxy 560 to perform theDNS augmented security.

The network 550 illustrates the DNS augmented security where DNSinformation is used as follows. First, at step 562, the user device 554requests a DNS lookup of a site, e.g., “what is the IP address ofsite.com?” from the anycast DNS server 556. The anycast DNS server 556accesses the policy data 558 to determine the policy associated with thesite at step 564. The anycast DNS server 556 returns the IP address ofthe site based on the appropriate policy at step 566. The policy data558 determines if the site either goes direct (step 568) to theInternet, is inspected by the inline proxy (step 570), or is blocked perpolicy (step 572). Here, the anycast DNS server 556 returns the IPaddress with additional information if the site is inspected or blocked.For example, if the anycast DNS server 556 determines the access isdirect, the anycast DNS server 556 simply returns the IP address of thesite. If the anycast DNS server 556 determines the site is blocked orinspected, the anycast DNS server 556 returns the IP address to theinline proxy 560 with additional information. The inline proxy 560 canblock the site or provide fully in line proxied traffic to the site(step 574) after performing monitoring for security.

The DNS augmented security advantageously is protocol and applicationagnostic providing visibility and control across virtually allInternet-bound traffic. For example, DNS-based protocols includeInternet Relay Chat (IRC), Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), HypertextTransfer Protocol (HTTP), HTTP Secure (HTTPS), Post Office Protocol v3(POP3), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), etc. Further, emergingthreats are utilizing DNS today especially Botnets and advancedpersistent threats (APTs). For example, Fast flux is a DNS techniqueused to hide phishing and malware delivery sites behind an ever-changingnetwork of compromised hosts acting as proxies. The DNS augmentedsecurity provides deployment flexibility when full inline monitoring isnot feasible. For example, this can be utilized in highly distributedwith high bandwidth environments, in locations with challenging InternetAccess, etc. The DNS augmented security can provide URL filtering,white/black list enforcement, etc. for enhanced security without contentfiltering. In this manner, the network 550 can be used with thedistributed security system 100 and the cloud system 500 to providecloud-based security without requiring full inline connectivity.

Unified Agent Application

FIG. 7 is a network diagram of a unified agent application 600 andassociated connectivity and functionality in a network 602. The unifiedagent application 600 is executed on a mobile device 604. The unifiedagent application 600 dynamically learns all available services, adaptsto changing network environments, and provides a seamless and a securenetwork resource access to Internet and darknet hosted applications.This is achieved through dynamic evaluation of network conditions,enrollment to individual services, learning individual serviceprotocols, creating a link-local network on the device 604, andestablishing multiple secure tunnels to cloud services over this localnetwork.

The unified agent application 600 is communicatively coupled to an agentmanager cloud 606, and a security cloud 608. Note, the security cloud608 can be the distributed security system 100, the cloud system 500,the distributed security cloud 552, etc. The unified agent application600 enables communication to enterprise private resources 612 via thesecurity cloud 608 and to the Internet 504 via the security cloud 608.The agent manager cloud 606 can communicate with enterprise assetmanagement 614, an enterprise Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)Identity provider (IDP) 616, and an enterprise Certificate Authority(CA) 618. The device 604 and the unified agent application 600 canperform a registration/identity 620 process through the agent managercloud 606 where the user identity, the user's certificates, and a devicefingerprint can uniquely identify the device 604. Once registered, theunified agent application 600 has an identity 622 which can include theuser, certificates, device posture, etc. and which is shared with thesecurity cloud 608.

The unified agent application 600 operates on a client-server modelwhere an IT admin enables appropriate services for end users at a CloudAdministration Server (CAS) which can be part of an agent manager cloud606, namely the enterprise asset management 614. Every client can make aunicast request to the agent manager cloud 606 (e.g., CAS) to discoverall enabled services. On acknowledging the response, the client issues arequest to authenticate to each service's cloud Identity Providers, theenterprise SAML IDP 616. Authentication can be multi-factor dependingupon the nature of the service. On successful authentication, servercontacts Mobile Device Management (MDM) or Inventory management providerto define access control rights for the device 604. Post authorization,the device 604 is successfully enrolled into the agent manager cloud 606which tracks and monitors all behavior of the device 604.

Post-enrollment, the device 604 creates a link local network with aspecific IP configuration, opens a virtual network interface to read andwrite packets and opens multiple listening sockets at custom ports tocreate secure tunnels to available services through the security cloud608. On network changes, the device 604 dynamically evaluatesreachability to preconfigured domains and depending upon the result itappropriately transitions all network tunnels, thus providing a seamlessexperience to the end user. Further, the device 604 also intelligentlylearns the conditions which are appropriate for setting up networktunnels to cloud services depending upon several network heuristics suchas reachability to a particular cloud service.

Unified Agent Application—Functionality

Generally, the unified agent application 600 support two broadfunctional categories—1) dynamic service discovery and access controlsand 2) service availability. The dynamic service discovery and accesscontrols include service configuration by the administrator, servicediscovery by the device 604, service acknowledgment and authentication,service authorization and enrollment, and the like. For serviceconfiguration by the administrator, the IT admin can provide cloudservice details at a centralized knowledge server, such as part of theagent manager cloud 606, the enterprise asset management 614, etc. Thecloud service details include the service type (e.g.,Internet/intranet), network protocol, identity provider, server address,port and access controls, etc.

For service discovery by the device 604, the device 604 can issue anetwork request to a known Cloud Administrative Server (CAS) in theagent manager cloud 606 to discover all enabled services for a user. Ifa specific cloud server is not known a priori, the device 604 canbroadcast the request to multiple clouds, e.g., through the agentmanager cloud 606 communicating to the enterprise asset management 614,the enterprise SAML IDP 616, and the enterprise CA 618.

For the service acknowledgment and authentication, the device 604acknowledges the response of service discovery and initiates theauthentication flow. The device 604 learns the authentication protocolthrough the service discovery configuration and performs authenticationof a configured nature at the enterprise SAML IDP 616. For the serviceauthorization and enrollment, post successful authentication, the CAS,authorizes the device 604 and fetches the access control information bycontacting a MDM/Inventory Solutions Provider. Depending upon the usercontext and the nature of access, the CAS enrolls the device 604 intoseveral cloud services and informs the cloud services that the user hasbeen enrolled for access.

The service availability includes link local network setup, a trafficinterceptor, and dynamic traffic forwarding tunnels to authorizedservices. The link local network setup, post enrollment, has the device604 create a local network on the device 604 itself to manage variousnetworking functionalities. For the traffic interceptor, the device 604intercepts and evaluates all Internet traffic. Allowed traffic istunneled to the cloud services such as in the security cloud 608 whereasrest of the traffic is denied as per enterprise policies. For thedynamic traffic forwarding tunnels to authorized services, dependingupon the evaluation, the device 604 splits the traffic into thedifferent tunnel to individual cloud services such as in the securitycloud 608.

The unified agent application 600 is a single application that providessecurity connectivity to the Internet 504 and darknet hostedapplications, such as the enterprise private resources 612. The unifiedagent application 600 communicates securely to the agent manager 606which is controlled by an IT admin. The unified agent application 600learns available services and authenticates with each service. Postproper enrollment, the unified agent application 600 securely connectsto cloud services by means of network tunnels.

Unified Agent Application—Workflow

FIG. 8 is a network diagram of the workflow of the unified agentapplication 600 in the network 602. The device 604 again executes theunified agent application 600, as well as a browser 630 (or some otherapplication requesting network services). FIG. 8 illustrates exampleworkflow. First, the device 604 includes authentication through anapplication portal 632 and download/install of the unified agentapplication 600 therefrom (step 640-1). Note, the application portal 632can be a website, Apple's app store, Google Play, Windows Store, etc.Once installed, the unified agent application 600 communicates to theagent manager cloud 606 communicating identity and asking for availableservices (“I am User X, what are my services?”) and the agent managercloud 606 responds with the available services (“You have Z services”)(step 640-2).

Next, the unified agent application 600 includes authentication using aVPN Service Provider (SP) with the security cloud 608 (step 640-3). Theunified agent application 600 next enrolls the device 604 through theagent manager cloud 606 (step 640-4). The agent manager cloud 606performs a device asset policy check with the enterprise assetmanagement 614 (step 640-5). The agent manager cloud 606, uponsuccessful check, provides the unified agent application 600 anaffirmative response (step 640-6). The unified agent application 600sends a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) to the agent manager cloud 606(step 640-7), and the agent manager cloud 606 sends the CSR request tothe enterprise CA, and the certificate is returned to the unified agentapplication 600 (step 640-8). Finally, the unified agent application 600enables VPN connectivity to the security cloud 608 (step 640-9).

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an event sequence associated with theunified agent application 600 in the network 602. The event sequence isshown between the device 604 executing the unified agent application600, a mobile admin function 650 such as implemented through the agentmanager cloud 606, a cloud node 502, a VPN node 652 such as through thesecurity cloud 608, a MDM function 654 such as through the enterpriseasset management 614, and an IDP function 656 such as through theenterprise SAML IDP 616. The device 604 discovers services with themobile admin function 650 (step 660), and the device 604 isauthenticated by the IDP function 656 (step 662). The device 604 enrollsin discovered services through the mobile admin function 650 (step 664).

The mobile admin function 650 is configured to authorize the serviceswith the MDM function 654 (step 666), enroll in the services through theVPN node 652 (step 668) and the processing nodes 110/cloud nodes 502(step 670). A success/error is provided by the mobile admin function 650to the device 604. Subsequently, the device 604, through the unifiedagent application 600, accesses the services such as a secure tunnel forinternet access through the processing nodes 110/cloud nodes 502 (step674) or a secure tunnel for intranet access through the VPN node 652(step 676).

Unified Agent Application—Architecture

FIG. 10 is a logical diagram of functional components of the unifiedagent application 600. The unified agent application 600 is configuredto operate on the mobile device 604. The security cloud 608, e.g.,through the distributed security system 100 or the cloud system 500,provides Internet security as well as cloud-based remote access toenterprise internal resources, through a VPN. These cloud services aredesigned and well suited for road warriors. Road warriors are the userswho are accessing Internet and enterprise internal services from outsidethe corporate physical network perimeter, i.e., the mobile laptop 540and/or the mobile device 542 in the cloud system 500. These are theusers who are accessing Internet and Enterprise resources from home,airports, coffee shops, and other external unsecured hotspots.

The unified agent application 600 provides authenticated and encryptedtunnels from road warrior devices 604 and, in some use cases, it evenneeds to be enforceable so that end users cannot disable the unifiedagent application 600. The VPN, which is the remote access service, alsoneeds authenticated and encrypted tunnel from road warrior devices 604.Both of these solutions also need to provide feedback to the end user inthe event that access was blocked due to security or compliance reasons.The following describes the architecture and design of the unified agentapplication 600 including an endpoint client architecture, backendchanges, auto update and integration with the security cloud 608.

The unified agent application 600 includes logical components includingview components 702, business processes and services 704, data 706, andcross-cutting functions 708. The view components 702 include UserInterface (UI) components 710 and UI process components 712. Thebusiness processes and services 704 include a tray user process 714, ahelper user process 716, a tunnel system service 718, a posture systemservice 720, and an updater system service 722. The data 706 includesencrypted data 724, configuration data 726, and logs 728. Thecross-cutting functions 708 are across the view components 702, thebusiness processes and services 704, and the data 706 and includesecurity 730, logging 732, and statistics 734.

The unified agent application 600 has a use goal of simplifiedprovisioning of the proxy (for security through the security cloud 608to the Internet 504) and the VPN (for access through the security cloud608 to the enterprise private resources 612). That is, the unified agentapplication 600 allows the use of the distributed security system 100,the cloud system 500, the distributed security cloud 552, the securitycloud 608, etc. as a proxy for Internet-bound communications. Theunified agent application 600 further allows the use of the distributedsecurity system 100, the cloud system 500, the distributed securitycloud 552, the security cloud 608, etc. as a tunnel for Intranet-boundcommunications to the enterprise private resources 412. With the unifiedagent application 600 setting up a local network at the device 604, theunified agent application 600 can manage communications between theInternet and the Intranet, i.e., two of the main categories of cloudservices—proxy to the Internet and tunnel to the Intranet. The unifiedagent application 600 further has objectives of simplified userenrollment in the proxy and tunnels.

In an embodiment, the unified agent application 600 is a nativeapplication. The common functionality is abstracted out and made intocommon libraries based on C or C++ so that it can be reused acrossdifferent platforms (e.g., iOS, Android, etc.). Example functionality:Traffic forwarding tunnels, local proxy, authentication backend,logging, statistics, etc. The UI components 710 and UI processcomponents 712 can be platform dependent. Also, the unified agentapplication 600 is designed and implementable such that other thirdparty VPN applications, if configured by the enterprise, can be usedconcurrently.

The app portal 632 enables installation of the unified agent application600 on the device 604. For example, an admin may be able to push andinstall the unified agent application 600 to the device 604 usingremote-push mechanisms like GPO, MDMs, etc. Additionally, the user candownload the unified agent application 600 if they have access toinstallation file and install on their own. The unified agentapplication 600 supports automatic updates without impacting the user'sInternet experience. If a problem is encountered, then it should rollback to previously successful state or fail open. The unified agentapplication 600 can have a security check to ensure that it is nottampered and updated from a right source with a hash match with a sourcehash when upgrading.

The user is able to log into the unified agent application 600 such aswith a User ID and password, as illustrated in FIG. 11. Once the usersends their User ID through the unified agent application 600 to theagent manager cloud 606, the security cloud 608, and/or the app portal632, the app portal 632 can determine the company's authenticationmechanism, such as through a lookup in the enterprise asset management614, and validate password through the enterprise CA 618.

Through the unified agent application 600, a user can be authenticatedto the proxy or the VPN through the security cloud 608. Forauthentication of the user to the proxy, using SAML, the user is able tolog into the unified agent application 600 by using their user ID andtransparent SAML authentication thereafter, including SAML certificate.The app portal 632 shall determine that an organization is using SAMLfor authentication through the enterprise CA 618 and redirect to theenterprise SAML IDP 616 to get SAML assertion and use it to authenticatethe user.

For authentication of the user to the tunnel, using SAML, the user isable to log into the unified agent application 600 by just using theiruser ID and based on the user ID, the unified agent application 600shall redirect the user for authentication to enterprise SAML IDP 616and SAML assertion shall be sent. The VPN service shall validate SAMLassertion; if the assertion is valid, then the unified agent application600 shall collect hardware parameters like device serial number, modelnumber, etc. and create CSR. The CSR shall be signed by the enterpriseCA 618, and the certificate shall be pushed to the unified agentapplication 600. The unified agent application 600 shall install thecertificate to KMS/keychain and save assertion.

After the user has been successfully authenticated, the user shall beenrolled in the proxy service, and user's traffic forwarding profileshall be downloaded from unified agent application 600 including SecureSockets Layer (SSL) certificates and exceptions. The unified agentapplication 600 shall indicate that user is connected to security cloud608, and app statistics shall be populated.

After the user has successfully authenticated (including transparentauthentication), the user shall be enrolled with a VPN service and theVPN broker info shall be downloaded by the unified agent application 600and the VPN tunnel shall be established. The unified agent application600 can support captive portal detection to fail open when users arebehind a captive portal to allow connection to a captive portal.

The unified agent application 600 can forward enterprise internaltraffic from the device 604 to the VPN. The unified agent application600 can recognize when a user goes to an internal app that isprovisioned with the VPN service. The unified agent application 600shall auto enable a tunnel to the VPN service when the user triesconnecting to an internal app. The proxy service can always be enforced,and the user is not able to remove it by switching off tunnel orremoving the unified agent application 600. Without the proxy solutionenforced, the user is not able to access the Internet and would beprompted to restart the web security service, via the unified agentapplication 600.

The VPN is an on-demand service; unlike the proxy service that shall beenforceable by default, so the user can enable/disable the VPN at willwithout any password requirements. Once the user logs into the VPNservice using a ‘Connect’, the same button shall be labeled ‘Disconnect’and user shall be able to disconnect the VPN service with a singleclick. Every time user disconnects with VPN service. The VPN service canbe auto-disabled if the user puts their system to sleep mode or there isinactivity (no packets exchanged) after x minutes (x shall beconfigurable in the VPN settings).

The admin can turn off the proxy service with a single client from anadmin UI for a user, all users, or some subset of users. This does notremove the unified agent application 600 from the device 604. A user maybe able to disable the proxy service, provided they have the authorityand credentials. The unified agent application 600 can provide servicerelated notifications to the user. For example, the unified agentapplication 600 can provide notifications such as push alerts or thelike as well as contain a notification area for a single place to showall notifications that are generated by the proxy service and the VPNservice. This shall also include app notifications includingconfiguration updates, agent updates, etc. The user shall be able toclear notifications as well filter notifications from this screen. Thisshall include a filter for VPN/Proxy, blocked, cautioned, quarantineactions.

Unified Agent Application—Admin Workflow

FIGS. 12 and 13 are screen shots of an admin dashboard (FIG. 12) and anetwork evaluation configuration (FIG. 13) for the unified agentapplication 600. An enterprise administrator (admin) can configure theunified agent application 600 for associated users. Configurableparameters generally include the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), automaticupdates, enforcement parameters (e.g., logout password to allow the userto log out of the unified agent application 600, uninstall password toallow the user to uninstall the unified agent application 600, etc.).For the proxy service, the configurable parameters can include ProxyAuto-Config (PAC) per user, group, etc. Also, the proxy service can beenabled for all users, for subsets of users, and/or for individualusers. For the VPN service, the configurable parameters can includecertificates, IDP servers, ports and protocols, and the like.

The admin dashboard provides a centralized view for all the users of theunified agent application 600, including deployed licenses, device 604type and Operating System (OS), device policy status, platform type,etc. The network evaluation configuration allows the admin to add atrusted network profile and perform other configurable parameters withthe proxy service and the VPN service.

Unified Agent Application—User Workflow

Again, the unified agent application 600 is executed on the device 604.For authentication, the user enters a User ID in the unified agentapplication 600, such as userid@domain. Subsequently, the unified agentapplication 600 is configured to discover the services enabled—proxyservice and VPN services based on userid@domain. The user authenticateswith the presented services, i.e., proxy service, VPN services, andcombinations thereof. The unified agent application 600 is autoprovisioned for the authenticated service by downloading the servicespecific configuration. The unified agent application 600 performs thefollowing during VPN enrollment—get the User/Device certificate signedby an Enterprise Intermediate Certificate. This Intermediate Certificatewill be same which will be used for signing Assistants. The unifiedagent application 600 also will pin hardware signatures/fingerprints tothe Certificate and user, e.g., Storage Serial ID (Hard Drive SerialID), CPU ID, Mother Board Serial ID, BIOS serial number, etc.

Unified Agent Application—Authentication and Enrollment Protocol

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a proxy authentication method 750 to thesecurity cloud 608. For authentication in the proxy service,conventionally, devices 604 can use proxy authentication to register tothe security cloud 608. This is not truly reliable as it depends onlocation/location-authentication policy/VPN and other such factors towork correctly. To simplify this flow, the following new flow can beused with the unified agent application 600 for the method 750. First,the mobile client device 604 initiates an HTTPS request to a CA (e.g.,the enterprise CA 618) (step 752). For example, this can be as follows:login.zscaler.net/clstart?version=1&_domain=nestle.com&redrurl=<url-encoded-url-with-schema>

If the domain is invalid or if the redrurl is missing, CA will reset theconnection.

Above end-point begins the client auth flow (step 754). The provideddomain is the company that requires the auth. The CA looks up the domainto find the company and their auth mechanism. If the company uses hostedor Active Directory (AD)/Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)authentication [SAML auth flow starts at step 760], the response will bea login form with input fields for [username] & [password] (step 756).The form is submitted via POST to the CA at a below end-point:

https://login.zscaler.net/clicred. The HTTP content may look like below

POST/clicred

Host: login.zscaler.netContent-Length: xyzusername=xyz@nestle.com&password=123456&redrurl=<url-encoded-posturl-with-schema>

Next, the CA performs user/password validation and responds with themessage explained in step 764 (step 758). If the company uses SAML,response to the request in step 752 will be the SAMLRequest form. TheSAMLRequest form will auto-submit to the IDP. Once auth completes, theCA gets control back with the identity of the user. Once SAMLResponsecomes back, send the response as a 307 redirect to redrurl with a belowformat Location: zsa://auth[?token=encrypted-cookie& . . . ] to beappended.

307 query params token= (on success) ecode= (on error) emsg= (on error)On error, send the same redrurl with below formatzsa://auth?ecode=<code>&emsg=<message>

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a VPN authentication method 780 to thesecurity cloud 608. The client (device 604) issues a GET web request tothe VPN authentication server with domain name as the query parameter(step 782), such as:

GET //<auth-server>?domain=mockcompany.comThe server identifies the IDP for the given domain and responds with aHypertext Markup Language (HTML) page containing a SAML Request (step784). The client will redirect to the IDP with the SAML Request (step786). The IDP will challenge the client for credentials which can be ofthe form of username/password or client identity certificate (step 788).On successful authentication, IDP will generate an SAMLResponse for theVPN authentication server (step 790). The client will record theSAMLAssertion for future tunnel negotiation. In the case of error, theserver will resend the challenge to the user (step 792).

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a device enrollment method 800 for the clientdevice 604 and the unified agent application 600. Post successfulauthentication with all services, in this case, the proxy services, andthe VPN services, the client sends an enrollment request to mobile admin(Cloud Administrative Server CAS) (step 802). The request containsdevice fingerprint and authentication context for each service toidentify the user (step 804). For example, the security cloud 608 canuse cookies, and the VPN can use SAMLAssertion for the authenticationcontext. The mobile admin (agent management cloud 606) performsinventory lookup with device fingerprints at the MDM server to authorizethe user and the device 604 (step 806). On successful authorization, themobile admin server enrolls the user to cloud services with theirauthentication contexts (step 808). Each cloud service responds withspecific access controls and protocol information that the clientreceives from mobile admin and uses for local network setup (step 810).

Unified Agent Application—Traffic Interception and Splitting

Again, in order to protect Internet-bound traffic and simultaneouslyaccess Enterprise specific Intranet traffic, the device 604 needs toconnect through multiple applications. Again, it is not straightforwardfor users to configure these applications in different networks anddifferent VPN and proxy solutions arise compatibility issues whenoperating simultaneously. The unified agent application 600 is designedto solve all these issues. The unified agent application 600 handlesboth proxy (Internet-bound) traffic, and Enterprise Intranet boundtraffic. The unified agent application 600 provides secure access toOrganizational internal resources when the user is outside of theenterprise network. For Internet-bound traffic, it will forward trafficto the processing node 110 or the cloud node 502, and for Intranet boundtraffic, it will forward traffic to a VPN (Broker) or direct if the useris inside the organization network.

The unified agent application 600 is configured to intercept alltraffic, specifically to intercept all Transmission Control Protocol(TCP) traffic and DNS traffic before it goes out through the externalnetwork interface in the device 604. The unified agent application 600can intercept other types of traffic as well, such as User DatagramProtocol (UDP). The unified agent application 600 is configured to splittraffic at the device 604, i.e., based on a local network configured atthe device 604. Split traffic can be as follows: if the VPN service isconfigured by admin, traffic destined to internal hostnames(configured/provided by company admin) will go to the VPN (broker), ifthe proxy service is configured by admin, rest of 80/443 traffic will goto the security cloud 608 or will go direct based on PAC file configuredby admin, and the remaining traffic will go directly. The unified agentapplication 600 is configured to send VPN traffic direct for trustednetworks (organization's internal network). The unified agentapplication 600 can also coexist with other VPN clients, i.e., it doesnot intercept the traffic targeted for those interfaces by specificroutes.

Thus, the unified agent application 600 is configured to intercept alltraffic at the IP layer for the device 603 or other VPN client's defaultroute. Then, the unified agent application 600 is configured to splittraffic to the VPN [for darknet hosted applications], Proxy [forinternet-bound cloud services] or Direct [for uninspected traffic] atboth the IP or Transport layer.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a traffic interception method 820 implementedthrough the unified agent application 600. The unified agent application600 registers and sets up a new Network Adapter (TUN interface) on thedevice (step 822). The unified agent application 600 overrides thedevice's network default route by configuring the default route ofhigher priority for the TUN interface (step 824). The unified agentapplication 600 sets specific route (exact match) for all DNS serversconfigured on the device 604 with the highest priority (step 826). Theunified agent application 600 will not override other specific routes ofexternal adapter or other VPN clients (step 828). The unified agentapplication 600 will open one UDP listening socket (for all UDP traffic)and two TCP listening sockets (one for VPN traffic and the other forrest of traffic) (step 830).

For each client socket coming to the UDP listening socket port, theunified agent application 600 includes accepting the client socket; ifit is a DNS (port 53), a query is performed, else a UDP socket iscreated (step 832). The query includes if hostname matches oneconfigured by admin for the VPN, the unified agent application 600 willcreate a local DNS response packet with address a.b.c.d, else it willcreate a UPD socket, bind it to external Interface and send the DNSpacket to the original DNS server, and the response is written back tothe client socket. For creating the UDP socket, it is bound to anexternal interface, a request packet is sent to the original destinationserver, and a response is written back to the client socket.

For each IP packet coming to the TUN interface, packet processing isperformed (step 834). Here, if the packet's source port is equal to anyof the unified agent application 600 listening socket's port then, getvalue corresponding to the packet destination port from the mappingtable and replace packet source port with this value, else add akey-value entry <source port, destination port> to a mapping table andreplace packet's destination port as per the following rules. If theprotocol is UDP, replace with UDP listening socket port, if the protocolis TCP and the destination address is a.b.c.d, replace with the VPNlistening socket port, else replace with the second TCP listening socketport. Next, swap the source and destination IP addresses, computer IPand TCP/UDP checksums and overwrite original checksums in the packet,and write modified packet to the external interface.

For example, assume x.x.x.x is the IP address of the TUN interface andzz is the local listening socket port, the following illustrates anexample of packet processing:

Original Packet Modified Packet Request packet from client app: Src:y.y.y.y:xx Dest: .x.x.xx:zz Src: x.x.x.x:xx Dest: y.y.y.y:yy Entry addedto mapping table: <xx,yy> Response packet from listening socket: Entryfetched from mapping table Src: x.x.x.x:zz Dest: y.y.y.y:xx for key xxis yy Src: y.y.y.y:yy Dest: x.x.x.x:xx

Next, for each client socket coming to the VPN listening socket port,processing is performed (step 836). The processing includes acceptingthe client socket, if the connection to the VPN is not there, create asocket for the VPN server, bind it to the external interface and connectand authenticate to the VPN; read request data from the socket and writeit to the VPN server socket according to VPN protocol, and read responsedata from VPN socket and write it back to client socket.

For each client socket coming to the second TCP listening socket port,processing is performed (step 838). The processing includes acceptingthe client socket, if original destination port is 80/443, if thehost/IP/URL is bypassed in a PAC file, then create new socket direct todestination server/port, else create new socket (or reuse existingsocket) to the security cloud 609 and send connect request for thedestination IP and port, else create new socket direct to destinationserver/port. Once the socket is connected, write request data on it, andwhen a response is available, write it back to the client socket.

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram of traffic interception and splitting 850using the unified agent application 600. Again, the unified agentapplication 600 creates and operates a tunnel (TUN) interface 852 on thedevice 604. The device 604 includes one or more client applications 854,which can be any program or service executable on the device 604 whichrequires access to the network interface on the device 604. Traffic forthe default route from the client applications 854 is sent to the TUNinterface 852, but traffic for specific routes can be sent to otherinterfaces 856, separate from the TUN interface, for direct connectivityto the Internet 504, such as via VPN services or direct.

The TUN interface 852 splits 858 all traffic. TCP traffic for internaldomains is sent to a VPN/broker server 860, TCP port 80/443 traffic issent to the security cloud 608 for a proxy such as to the processingnode 110 or the cloud node 502. Finally, other traffic can be sentdirectly to the Internet 504. In this manner, the TUN interface 852operates a local network at the device 604.

FIG. 19 is a flow diagram of example functionality of clientapplications 864, the TUN interface 852, sockets 862, 864, and theVPN/broker server 860 for the interception and splitting 850 using theunified agent application 600. Specifically, FIG. 19 illustratesactivity between the client applications 864, the TUN interface 852, aUDP listening socket 862, a VPN listening socket 864, and the VPN/brokerserver 860. First, the client application 854 sends a DNS query for aninternal domain (step 902). The TUN interface 852 receives the IP packetcorresponding to the DNS request and changes the packet's destination tothe UDP listening socket 862 and writes the packet back (step 904). TheUDP listening socket 862 receives the UDP socket connection, accepts thesocket, creates and writes a local DNS response packet with A.B.C.Daddress (step 906). The DNS response is sent from the UDP listeningsocket 862 to the TUN interface 852 (step 908) and modified and sentback to the client application 854 (step 910).

Next, the client application 854 opens a TCP socket to A.B.C.D:XX andwrites request data (step 912). The TUN interface 852 receives the IPpacket corresponding to the TCP socket and changes the packet'sdestination address to the VPN listening socket 864 and writes thepacket back (step 914). The VPN listening socket 864 receives the TCPsocket connection, accepts the socket and read request data, and createsthe socket through an external interface to connect and authenticate tothe VPN server 860 and write TCP request data (step 916). The VPN server860 sends TCP response data (step 918), the VPN listening socket 864writes a response back to the client socket (step 920), and the TUNinterface 852 modifies the packet and sends TCP response data (step922).

FIG. 20 is a flow diagram of tunnel forwarding rules 940 by the unifiedagent application 600. A periodic health monitor function 942 operates,based on a periodic timer 944, to check a PAC ping and a gateway connectping to provide a state to a bypass fail/open module 946. A networkstate change function 948 is configured to detect a network change event950 such as DNS server address, DNS search domains, on-net host DNSlookups, etc., and to provide a state to the bypass fail/open module946. The bypass fail/open module 946 creates an active tunnel 952 ordisabled tunnel 954 based on the states.

Unified Agent Application—MDM Functionality

The unified agent application 600 can further be utilized to perform MDMfunctionality of the user device 604, in addition to the various otherfunctionality described herein. That is, the unified agent application600 is in the unique position to provide MDM without the need for athird-part application, third-party service, additional hardware, etc.That is, the unified agent application 600 is required for enterpriseservice access, and it can double as MDM as well.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart of an MDM method 1000 implemented through theunified agent application 600 and the distributed security system 100 orthe cloud system 500. The MDM method 1000 includes an IT administratorconfiguring MDM policies on the Mobile Admin, i.e., the mobile adminfunction 650 (step 1002). Here, the IT administrator can specify MDMpolicies for users, groups of users, etc. associated with an enterprise.For example, the MDM policies can include, without limitation, passwordconfiguration, screen lock, remote wipe, enable/disable features such asthe browser or camera, application settings, allowed/disallowedapplications, delete applications, install applications, etc.

The Mobile Admin notifies the CA, e.g., the authority node 120, withpolicy metadata (step 1004). Once the CA receives update policymetadata, it pushes it down to all cloud nodes 110, 502 in thedistributed security system 100 or the cloud system 500 (step 1006). Asdescribed herein, the unified agent application 600 is continuouslyforwarding traffic to a cloud node 110, 502 (step 1008). The cloud node110, 502 communicates MDM data via the tunnel (step 1010). In anembodiment, the cloud node 110, 502 can send a 200 OK with a custom HTTPheader with MDM data in response to a CONNECT request. The MDM data caninclude metadata of policy and the payload can be encrypted. In anotherembodiment, the cloud node 110, 502 can sends metadata to the unifiedagent application 600 over an encrypted control channel.

This process can be instant or IT Admin can schedule when changes shouldbe applicable. The IT Admin has flexibility to create policy forgroup(s) or individual user(s) or whole organization.

It will be appreciated that some embodiments described herein mayinclude one or more generic or specialized processors (“one or moreprocessors”) such as microprocessors; Central Processing Units (CPUs);Digital Signal Processors (DSPs): customized processors such as NetworkProcessors (NPs) or Network Processing Units (NPUs), Graphics ProcessingUnits (GPUs), or the like; Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs); andthe like along with unique stored program instructions (including bothsoftware and firmware) for control thereof to implement, in conjunctionwith certain non-processor circuits, some, most, or all of the functionsof the methods and/or systems described herein. Alternatively, some orall functions may be implemented by a state machine that has no storedprogram instructions, or in one or more Application Specific IntegratedCircuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinations of certainof the functions are implemented as custom logic or circuitry. Ofcourse, a combination of the aforementioned approaches may be used. Forsome of the embodiments described herein, a corresponding device such ashardware, software, firmware, and a combination thereof can be referredto as “circuitry configured or adapted to,” “logic configured or adaptedto,” etc. perform a set of operations, steps, methods, processes,algorithms, functions, techniques, etc. as described herein for thevarious embodiments.

Moreover, some embodiments may include a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium having computer readable code storedthereon for programming a computer, server, appliance, device,processor, circuit, etc. each of which may include a processor toperform functions as described and claimed herein. Examples of suchcomputer-readable storage mediums include, but are not limited to, ahard disk, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, a ROM(Read Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory), an EPROM(Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), an EEPROM (ElectricallyErasable Programmable Read Only Memory), Flash memory, and the like.When stored in the non-transitory computer readable medium, software caninclude instructions executable by a processor or device (e.g., any typeof programmable circuitry or logic) that, in response to such execution,cause a processor or the device to perform a set of operations, steps,methods, processes, algorithms, functions, techniques, etc. as describedherein for the various embodiments.

Although the present disclosure has been illustrated and describedherein with reference to preferred embodiments and specific examplesthereof, it will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in theart that other embodiments and examples may perform similar functionsand/or achieve like results. All such equivalent embodiments andexamples are within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, arecontemplated thereby, and are intended to be covered by the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory computer readable medium storingcomputer executable instructions, and in response to execution by theprocessor in a cloud node, the computer-executable instructions cause aprocessor to perform the steps of: receiving Mobile Device Management(MDM) data from a central authority, wherein the MDM data includespolicy metadata specifying MDM functions for mobile devices associatedwith users of an enterprise; communicating to an application on a mobiledevice associated with a user, via a tunnel, wherein the application isconfigured for service discovery and connectivity; and providing the MDMdata to the mobile device associated with the user via the tunnel. 2.The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein thesteps further include: receiving an update to the MDM data from thecentral authority; and one of instantly communicating the update to themobile device and communicating the update to the mobile device based ona schedule.
 3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1,wherein the providing is via a custom Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)header with encrypted payload.
 4. The non-transitory computer readablemedium of claim 1, wherein the providing is via an encrypted controlchannel.
 5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1,wherein the MDM data specifies any of password configuration, screenlock, remote wipe, enable/disable features, allowed/disallowedapplications, deletion of applications, and installation ofapplications.
 6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1,wherein the steps further include: authenticating the user into the oneor more cloud services via the tunnel.
 7. The non-transitory computerreadable medium of claim 1, wherein the application on the mobile deviceis configured to forward traffic via the tunnel, through the cloud node.8. A cloud node comprising: a processor and memory storing instructionsthat, when executed, cause the processor to receive Mobile DeviceManagement (MDM) data from a central authority, wherein the MDM dataincludes policy metadata specifying MDM functions for mobile devicesassociated with users of an enterprise; communicate to an application ona mobile device associated with a user, via a tunnel, wherein theapplication is configured for service discovery and connectivity; andprovide the MDM data to the mobile device associated with the user viathe tunnel.
 9. The cloud node of claim 8, wherein the instructions that,when executed, further cause the processor to receive an update to theMDM data from the central authority; and one of instantly communicatethe update to the mobile device and communicate the update to the mobiledevice based on a schedule.
 10. The cloud node of claim 8, wherein theMDM data is provided via a custom Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)header with encrypted payload.
 11. The cloud node of claim 8, whereinthe MDM data is provided via an encrypted control channel.
 12. The cloudnode of claim 8, wherein the MDM data specifies any of passwordconfiguration, screen lock, remote wipe, enable/disable features,allowed/disallowed applications, deletion of applications, andinstallation of applications.
 13. The cloud node of claim 8, wherein theinstructions that, when executed, further cause the processor toauthenticating the user into the one or more cloud services via thetunnel.
 14. The cloud node of claim 8, wherein the application on themobile device is configured to forward traffic via the tunnel, throughthe cloud node.
 15. A method implemented in a cloud node comprising:receiving Mobile Device Management (MDM) data from a central authority,wherein the MDM data includes policy metadata specifying MDM functionsfor mobile devices associated with users of an enterprise; communicatingto an application on a mobile device associated with a user, via atunnel, wherein the application is configured for service discovery andconnectivity; and providing the MDM data to the mobile device associatedwith the user via the tunnel.
 16. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising receiving an update to the MDM data from the centralauthority; and one of instantly communicating the update to the mobiledevice and communicating the update to the mobile device based on aschedule.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the providing is via acustom Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) header with encrypted payload.18. The method of claim 15, wherein the providing is via an encryptedcontrol channel.
 19. The method of claim 15, wherein the MDM dataspecifies any of password configuration, screen lock, remote wipe,enable/disable features, allowed/disallowed applications, deletion ofapplications, and installation of applications.
 20. The method of claim15, further comprising: authenticating the user into the one or morecloud services via the tunnel.